Posted October 19, 2014
Familiar with the Asia Bibi blasphemy case?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case
On Oct. 16, a Pakistani High Court dismissed her appeal and upheld the death sentence. Another appeal is planned.
In the words of Rush, my angels and my demons are at war.
The rational part of me knows that justice and liberty cannot be forced on a people. The human cost of war is horrific, and its unintended consequences sometimes as bad or worse than the original injustice. The best we can do is to trade and talk with other nations, show them freedom and prosperity and make them want it for themselves. Cultural victory.
But fuck, the primal part of me is screaming "Rain hellfire on these savages!!!"
Yeah, I know, you're shocked, aghast, offended, whatever. I'm not going to lie for the sake of political correctness and pretend that I don't have these kind of feelings sometimes.
And yeah, the Western world is far from perfect, but we're not executing people for blasphemy. No, I don't need a history lesson: I am well aware of the horrors of our own past, from slavery to slaughter in the name of religion and politics and whatever happened to be a convenient excuse, and I am profoundly grateful for the separation of church and state, the rule of law, and the liberty that we enjoy today.
I do believe, as I said, that war is *not* a solution. But knowing that she's going to die, either executed by the government or killed by a fanatic if she's released... It burns.
Part of me wants us to do something about it. Something violent. Something that sends a message. Send in a Spec Ops team to evac her and her family to the States or Europe, grant them citizenship, help them get a start. Give the team orders to shoot anyone that stands in their way in the goddamn face. Crazy talk, I know, and it wouldn't solve things in the long run, and it would destroy what relations we do have with the country and very likely make things worse for minorities there in the future, but damn... part of me would do it anyway, consequences be damned, to prevent this one injustice.
It helps cope with these feelings to remember that people cannot be reduced to "civilized" and "savages". The police did stop the mob from beating the woman and her family. There is a court system with an appeals process. There are good people in the country who have spoken on her behalf. Two politicians died, assassinated by extremists, for speaking against blasphemy laws. And of course there are religious extremists in our own countries who would pursue censorship, oppression, and even outright war against other religions.
But it's still hard to wrap my brain around large numbers of people wanting to actually kill a woman over religious differences. And harder still to accept that inaction may be the rational choice.
Your thoughts?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Bibi_blasphemy_case
On Oct. 16, a Pakistani High Court dismissed her appeal and upheld the death sentence. Another appeal is planned.
In the words of Rush, my angels and my demons are at war.
The rational part of me knows that justice and liberty cannot be forced on a people. The human cost of war is horrific, and its unintended consequences sometimes as bad or worse than the original injustice. The best we can do is to trade and talk with other nations, show them freedom and prosperity and make them want it for themselves. Cultural victory.
But fuck, the primal part of me is screaming "Rain hellfire on these savages!!!"
Yeah, I know, you're shocked, aghast, offended, whatever. I'm not going to lie for the sake of political correctness and pretend that I don't have these kind of feelings sometimes.
And yeah, the Western world is far from perfect, but we're not executing people for blasphemy. No, I don't need a history lesson: I am well aware of the horrors of our own past, from slavery to slaughter in the name of religion and politics and whatever happened to be a convenient excuse, and I am profoundly grateful for the separation of church and state, the rule of law, and the liberty that we enjoy today.
I do believe, as I said, that war is *not* a solution. But knowing that she's going to die, either executed by the government or killed by a fanatic if she's released... It burns.
Part of me wants us to do something about it. Something violent. Something that sends a message. Send in a Spec Ops team to evac her and her family to the States or Europe, grant them citizenship, help them get a start. Give the team orders to shoot anyone that stands in their way in the goddamn face. Crazy talk, I know, and it wouldn't solve things in the long run, and it would destroy what relations we do have with the country and very likely make things worse for minorities there in the future, but damn... part of me would do it anyway, consequences be damned, to prevent this one injustice.
It helps cope with these feelings to remember that people cannot be reduced to "civilized" and "savages". The police did stop the mob from beating the woman and her family. There is a court system with an appeals process. There are good people in the country who have spoken on her behalf. Two politicians died, assassinated by extremists, for speaking against blasphemy laws. And of course there are religious extremists in our own countries who would pursue censorship, oppression, and even outright war against other religions.
But it's still hard to wrap my brain around large numbers of people wanting to actually kill a woman over religious differences. And harder still to accept that inaction may be the rational choice.
Your thoughts?
